Sr. Retirement Plan Administrator Tycor Benefit Administrators, Inc.
|
Primark Benefits
|
The Retirement Plan Company
|
Retirement and Executive Compensation Consultant Retirement Learning Center
|
Pentegra
|
Nicholas Pension Consultants
|
Director of Member Services, Member/ Employer Experience Orange County Employees Retirement System
|
Abacus Retirement Solutions, LLC
|
“BenefitsLink continues to be the most valuable resource we have at the firm.”
-- An attorney subscriber
|
|
HHS Suspends Georgia Health Insurance Market Waiver
InsuranceNewsNet.com ![]() Aug. 10, 2022 "Georgians would have enrolled in insurance plans through private insurance brokers rather than the federal healthcare.gov health insurance marketplace. The plan ... initially gained federal approval under then-President Donald Trump in November 2020. [A]fter the Biden administration took office, [HHS] asked Georgia to submit a revised plan for the waiver ... Georgia challenged the HHS findings and did not submit the requested changes to the plan.... Now, HHS has suspended Georgia's waiver plan." Tags: Health Plan Administration • Health Plan Design • Local Regulation |
Colorado Provides Updated Guidance for Paid Sick and Safe Leave
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP ![]() [Guidance Overview] Aug. 10, 2022 "On both June 24 and Aug. 2, 2022, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment's Division of Labor Standards and Statistics issued yet additional revised and updated guidance as to the HFWA.... By Jan. 1, 2023, all covered employers are required to register with the FAMLI Division. Virtually all employers with employees in Colorado are covered." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Ninth Circuit Holds California Paid Sick Leave Does Not Apply to Rail Workers
Jackson Lewis ![]() Aug. 9, 2022 "The 9th Circuit stated that the [Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA)] contains an express preemption provision disallowing railroad employees from having any right to sickness benefits under a sickness law of any State. Given that the Act provides sickness benefits, the Act falls within the express terms of the RUIA preemption." [National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Su, No. 21-15816 (9th Cir. Jul. 26, 2022)] Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
San Francisco Releases Health Care Expenditure Rates for 2023
Mercer ![]() [Guidance Overview] Aug. 9, 2022 "San Francisco has posted the 2023 Health Care Expenditure (HCE) rates under the Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) rules. The HCSO applies to all employers that must obtain a San Francisco business registration certificate and have at least 20 employees in any location if at least one works in the city and county of San Francisco.... HCSO expenditure requirements do not currently apply to employees telecommuting outside of San Francisco." Tags: Health Plan Administration • Health Plan Costs • Local Regulation |
Maryland's Flexible Leave Act Includes Mandatory Paid Bereavement Leave
Miles & Stockbridge ![]() [Guidance Overview] Aug. 2, 2022 "Maryland law now requires employers with 15 or more employees to permit the use of existing accrued paid leave for bereavement purposes.... Few other states require employers to provide bereavement leave." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Change to Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act Vetoed, Current Law Remains in Place
Jackson Lewis P.C. ![]() [Guidance Overview] Aug. 2, 2022 "Under the original amendment in the Massachusetts state budget, employers and employees could supplement the PFMLA benefit payments with 'any accrued sick or vacation pay or other paid leave provided under an employer policy.' ... Vetoing the provision, the governor stated concerns about the cost and implementation of the amendment and asked for a study on the costs.... [T]he Massachusetts legislature voted to override the governor's amendment veto and returned it to the governor for signature.... At this time, the governor has not acted." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Michigan Court of Claims Stays Ruling on Michigan's Paid Medical Leave Law
Miller Johnson ![]() [Guidance Overview] Aug. 2, 2022 "[F}or now, ... the current Paid Medical Act remain[s] in effect; however, effective February 19, 2023, the Earned Sick Time Act will replace the Paid Medical Leave Act ... unless the Court's decision is overturned altogether on appeal. It is also possible that parts of the ruling will become moot if new legislation is passed." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Massachusetts Budget Includes Changes to State's Paid Family and Medical Leave Act
Littler ![]() [Guidance Overview] Aug. 1, 2022 "[E]mployees will now have the option to use their accrued paid leave (i.e., sick, vacation, personal leave) to supplement their PFML benefits while on a PFML-qualifying leave. This is a significant change from when the PFML was first enacted, which required employees to choose either PFML partial wage replacement benefits or paid time off while on leave." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
2022 Changes to Michigan's Paid Medical Leave: Back to the Future? Not So Fast!
Ogletree Deakins ![]() Aug. 1, 2022 "[On July 29,] the Michigan Court of Claims issued a stay of its July 19, 2022, decision ... that had reinstated ballot initiatives that would have drastically changed the state's paid medical leave and minimum wage laws. The stay is in place until February 19, 2023. This means that the adopted and amended versions of these laws will remain in place for now." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act Allows Adding Accrued Sick, Vacation Pay to Benefits
Jackson Lewis P.C. ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 29, 2022 "A provision in the enacted state budget for fiscal year 2023 amends the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) to provide employers and employees more flexibility to use other accrued benefits to supplement paid benefits received from the state." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
New York Extends Paid Leave for COVID Vaccinations Through December 31, 2023
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP ![]() July 27, 2022 "Employers should remain aware that this paid COVID vaccination leave cannot be charged against any other leave to which the employee is entitled, including paid sick leave or leave provided under a collective bargaining agreement." Tags: Coronavirus (COVID-19) • FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Michigan Court Voids State's Minimum Wage and Paid Medical Leave Acts, Creating Compliance Limbo
Jackson Lewis P.C. ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 26, 2022 "Although the State of Michigan immediately filed an appeal of the court's order and a motion to stay its directive to reinstate the ballot initiatives as originally enacted, the current status of Michigan's minimum wage and paid sick leave laws remains in flux. Should the court's order ultimately be upheld, here is how the laws would change." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Connecticut Employers Must Provide Employees with Notice of Rights Under Paid Family and Medical Leave Law
Littler ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 25, 2022 "The Connecticut [DOL] released a sample Notice ... Employers must provide the notice to all existing employees on an annual basis -- starting July 1 -- and to all new hires at the time of hire.... [T]he CT PFMLA appears to require individual distribution of the notice." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Paid COVID-19 Leave: It's Not Over Yet in Colorado
Sherman Howard ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 25, 2022 "Colorado employers must continue to provide paid COVID leave to employees who have public health emergency related leave available. Recently, the federal government extended the public health emergency declaration related to COVID-19 for an additional 90 days." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Michigan Court Reinstitutes More Generous Paid Sick Time Law, Effective Immediately
LaborSphere, a blog by Drinker Biddle ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 22, 2022 "Unless the Michigan Court of Appeals or Supreme Court issues a stay pending an appeal, ... [all] Michigan employees are now eligible for paid sick leave, including previously exempted part-time, executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees. Employers must provide 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked (instead of the prior 1:35 ratio). Employers with less than 10 workers may cap paid time off at 40 hours annually; all others must provide employees up to 72 hours of paid time off annually." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
2022 Changes to Michigan's Paid Medical Leave: Back to the Future
Ogletree Deakins ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 22, 2022 "Employers may want to examine their current leave policies for Michigan employees and assess any necessary modifications needed to comply with the expanded paid sick leave (and other) provisions of the original legislation. Here is a recap of the most notable provisions in the original law[.]" Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Michigan Court Voids Current Paid Medical Leave Law, Reinstating Original Versions from 2018
Miller Johnson ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 21, 2022 "On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, the Michigan Court of Claims determined that the Michigan Legislature violated the Michigan Constitution when it adopted and then amended two ballot petition initiatives in 2018.... The laws as amended by the Legislature were quite different from the original ballot initiatives in a number of ways." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Bloomington Becomes the Fourth Minnesota City to Pass a Paid Sick and Safe Leave Law
Seyfarth Shaw LLP ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 21, 2022 "Bloomington became the fourth Minnesota city to pass a citywide Earned Sick and Safe Leave ordinance, requiring all private employers with one or more employees to provide eligible employees with safe and sick leave. The ordinance becomes effective on July 1, 2023." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Mandatory Withholding on Annuities and Pensions for Financial Institutions Operating in Minnesota
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 20, 2022 "Effective January 1, 2022, financial institutions operating in Minnesota are required to begin withholding Minnesota Personal Income Tax on annuity and pension payments made to any of its customers that reside in Minnesota.... If a financial institution has nexus in Minnesota but has not withheld Tax on pension and annuity distributions after January 1, 2022, it could be liable for up to the full amount of the Tax that should have been withheld, together with a penalty for failure to timely withhold and remit Tax." |
Hawaii to Establish Unique Retirement Program
American Retirement Association [ARA] ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 20, 2022 "Gov. David Ige (D) signed legislation creating the program into law on July 12. It went into effect immediately. The program has two unique features.... In order to participate in the program, employees will have to opt in. And unlike any other state so far, one of the members of the board that will administer the program will be a retiree living in Hawaii, to represent retirees." |
San Francisco's Amended Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance Adds Flexibility
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 19, 2022 "San Francisco has significantly expanded its Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance to guarantee flexible or predictable work arrangements for employees with qualifying caregiver responsibilities when the employee provides notice of their preferred arrangement, unless the employer can demonstrate an undue hardship to the employer." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
New Jersey's Bad 403(b) Bill
403bwise ![]() [Opinion] July 19, 2022 "[A] new bill in New Jersey would require all school districts with more than 1,000 students to have at least three 403(b) 'financial institutions or pension management organizations.' ... It's an understatement to call this an awful bill.... Promoters have said the bill will ensure quality pricing but nowhere in the proposed legislation does it specify this must happen." |
Connecticut Health Insurers Seek 'Jaw-Dropping' Rate Hike for 2023
InsuranceNewsNet.com ![]() July 18, 2022 "Insurance companies that sell policies on and off Connecticut's [ACA] exchange are seeking an average increase of 20.4% on individual health plans next year ... On small group plans, the carriers are asking for an average increase of 14.8%.... Carriers in 2021 asked for an average hike of 8.6% on individual plans and 12.9% on small group plans." Tags: Health Plan Costs • Local Regulation |
New Layers of Complexity for Employers Responding to Leave Requests.: Multi-Jurisdictional Paid Sick Leave Compliance
Ogletree Deakins ![]() July 14, 2022 "State and local leave laws create a host of compliance issues for employers. Employers may want to review their current policies taking into account their industry and the state, or sometimes even the specific ZIP code in which they operate. They may also want to consider the evolving definitions of what is a qualified event, particularly in light of the COVID-19 public health crisis." Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |
Colorado Updates Paid Sick Leave Guidance, Clarifies Carry-Over Amounts and Public Health Emergency Leave
Littler ![]() [Guidance Overview] July 13, 2022 "[E]mployers can count the amount of unused sick leave that is carried over to a subsequent year toward the employee's entitlement to accrue sick leave hours in the subsequent year.... INFO #6B also clarifies the amount of Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) that employees are entitled to in Colorado. [A]ny accrued but unused sick leave in an employee's sick leave bank when a PHEL request is made may be counted toward the 80-hour entitlement as a 'credit.' " Tags: FMLA and Other Leave • Local Regulation |